From her perch along Bay Street downtown, just behind a line of yellow police tape, Jennifer Kucheski could only speculate Saturday afternoon about what had happened only hours earlier...

But one thing was clear.

A car, driven by Savannah resident Donna Haddock, had sped north on Drayton Street, jumped the curb at Bay Street, knocked down a section of antique, wrought-iron fencing, taken out a 19th century terra cotta statue, snapped a lamppost in half, soared over a pedestrian walkway and come to a grinding halt at the front steps of the Savannah Cotton Exchange.

The freak accident happened about 7:15 a.m.

From Kucheski's angle, six hours later, all she could see was the underbelly of the smashed red car as its length filled the grand entrance to what has served as home for Solomon's Lodge, a Freemasons organization, since 1972.

"I hope she made it," the Augusta resident said of the driver. She paused, then added, "Everyone here thought it was a convertible"..Judy Pal, spokeswoman for Savannah-Chatham police, said Haddock was taken to Memorial University Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Haddock was unable to tell police what had happened, although Pal said investigators are certain the vehicle went airborne after hitting the fountain and its water-spouting lion...

Savannah's historic district has 22 squares..It is Georgia's 5th-largest city and 3rd-largest metropolitan area..The cotton industry in Lancashire was served by the Manchester Royal Exchange which traded in spun yarn and finished goods throughout the world including Africa while the Liverpool Cotton Exchange traded in imported raw cotton. In the 18th century the trade was part of part the slave trade in which African slaves were transported to America where the cotton was grown and then exported to Liverpool where the raw cotton was sold..The exchange was seriously damaged during World War II when it took a direct hit from a bomb during a German air raid in the Manchester Blitz at Christmas in 1940..The building was damaged on 15 June 1996 when an IRA bomb exploded in Corporation Street less than 50 yards away...